The Midas Touch
by Checkmate 24601
Summary: She is the dream of every alchemist - the Philosopher's Stone, the means to turn the basest of metals into gold. She is the Hougyouku in the Flesh. [Taken from my other work 'Fairy Tale Gone Wrong']


**King Midas**

He is a simple man at heart. A rather Romantic one as well.

Hence, it ruffles his sensibilities when they label him all manner of names.

_Murderer._

_Traitor._

_Monster._

They _Soul Society and his former fellow Shinigamis_ were incapable of understanding, too simple-minded. _How could they envision a new world order, the mandate of being a God?_

They were not _Him. _

_He was the one who dared to challenge the rotting status quo…and so nearly succeeded. So close, he had tasted that power. _

But who would have thought…that so many unexpected developments would occur?

_Kurosaki Ichigo's unexpected evolution._

_Gin…Gin's betrayal_

_And of course…Orihime, sweet, precious Inoue Orihime._

But Aizen Sousuke is getting ahead of himself.

No one ever fathomed his romantic notion that he viewed himself as an artisan, _a craftsman if you will, _shapingthe people he came into contact with, welding them to the way he wants them, for his purposes_._

After all, these raw materials were lying there for free, available, _in waiting for a higher Force, a superior Being to guide them. _

He enjoyed moulding people, _cutting, chipping, chiseling_ them like a jeweller to suit his desires and goals.

He found gold in Hinamori Momo.

_Pure gold._

She was a sweet little thing, like a pet, a lost puppy constantly begging for attention, approval, affection. _Unquestioning. Obedient. _If he asked something of her, she would move heaven and earth to make sure he receives it _sometimes exceeding his expectations. _Every leader requires such a follower, at least one…at least in the beginning.

He made her dependent on him _entirely. _

As he told Hitsugaya Toushirou, admiration is the furthest thing from understanding. It was a kindness, a blessing that Aizen had cut her down _twice. _Both times, Little Hinamori-_kun _was _beautifully _pierced by a sword. She cannot live without him. It was parasitic relationship _though who is the parasite remains an unsolved mystery. _

_She _had placed _him _on such a pedestal _so high _that she never fathomed, never guessed than he would tear her down. That was the problem with pure gold. Its advantage is being so responsive, so easy to weld. _One can achieve numerous intricate details and minutiae with pure gold. _Aizen considered it a feature of Gold to be able to override previous bonds of friendship and cut down a childhood friend, based on the persuasion of his opinion _oh how Hinamori had valued his good opinion. _

Pure gold is very reliable. That is the reason it ranks first in the league of metals. This idolisation of gold is present in all legends, competitions, fairy tales and myths.

Take the Greek Argonauts, led by their leader Jason, to hunt for the Golden Fleece.

The peasant boy Jack climbed up a beanstalk. The first object he stole from the giant in the clouds was a hen which could lay golden eggs.

The origins of the Trojan War – the Goddess of Discord Eris threw a golden apple to be given "to the fairest", which Paris ultimately gave to the goddess Aphrodite and led him to the _golden, _fair headed Helen of Sparta, who later went down in history as Helen of Troy.

The emperors of China were the sole individuals to wear golden dragon finery and robes.

Norse mythology credits golden apples as the source of immortality, divine food which maintains the gods' eternal youth.

But pure gold becomes … dull, boring after a while. 

Hence, Hinamori's easy defeat. Pure gold is _so _easy to cut.

While Gin was Aizen's right-hand man, he was more mercurial than silver. Or rather it was the mercurial qualities within the silver which drew Aizen to the _genius child. _Yes, the _tensai, _the boy who beat Shiba Kaien's record at the Shinigami Academy by graduating within a year. That silver-haired boy with the perpetual smile, _ubiquitous but less or rather never sincere, _who so casually, expertly killed the original third seat of the Fifth Division without a twitch, blink or hesitation had piqued his interest right from the start.

His sadistic nature matched Aizen's willingness to do whatever it takes to accomplish his final act – to become God. Silver is an extremely good conductor. Silver became Aizen's means to kill without killing, without staining his hands with unnecessary red, using another's sword to kill. _Gin may have withheld his bankai from Aizen's knowledge, but he could not escape even in death, the reality that Aizen is responsible for Gin's shikai. _Shinsou. The extending blade which pierces, _one kill, one hit. _

Gin may have won briefly when he betrayed Aizen in that final moment, revealing his true motives. Maintaining for more than a century his allegiance _and simultaneously his hate _for the man whom he calls 'Captain' wins Aizen's respect. _Such dedication which they both share_ although Gin may not appreciate such a similarity. The foolish boy is dead now. Aizen had personally sent him to Hell.

It is laughable _then as it is now _that Gin could have thought to spit upon his God and expect to come out alive, _to win. _One would have to invert the proverb "Lost the battle but won the war" to suit Gin. He may have wrestled a small moment of surprise advantage from Aizen, but ultimately he lost _lost his life without taking revenge on the man who allowed the rape of his childhood friend and love, Matsumoto Rangiku, lost and died for a meaningless life and regarded as a traitor by Soul Society even after death. _

Oh it is laughable _how the Mighty have fallen! _

Hmm…what was that you asked?

Oh. Kaname Tousen?

No, _your guess is incorrect _he is not bronze or copper.

Then, which one is he? Can you not guess?

Very well. Tousen is heliotrope, or better known as bloodstone.

It is rather ironic that the man who chose "the path to the least bloodshed" is awarded the bloodstone in remembrance.

The bloodstone…black with specks of red or blood.

Tousen was loyal to the point of blindness _you may decide whether the pun was intended or not. _

Although when taken to excess, his loyalty becomes an irritant _acting beyond orders gradually morphs into acting without orders_. Although that makes Tousen easier to control as well _as seen in the case of cutting off Grimmjow's arm._

Tousen based his actions on _Justice_. It is an ideology which Aizen never identified with _a concept he didn't argue against, but never once supported or identified with. _Justice is fickle, a belief open to too many interpretations. Beliefs get beaten down. Beliefs exist in so many different forms because they are too subjective. Aizen never claimed to support Justice.

As he told Ukitake, he is merely ascending to the Throne of Heaven, which had sat vacant because no one dared to reach for it. Justice is best left to those incompetent fools _like the Central 46, who had been so easily killed. _Aizen can still remember the blood drenching the tables and high administrative seats _the thrilling rush at seeing the literal rivers of blood_.

They were a _farce, those judges who claim to know better _when they knew nothing at all. Authoritarian, institutionalised nepotism and patronage. A bloated bureaucracy better done away with instead of draining resources and manpower.

In the end, there are simply two individuals whom Aizen could not quite pin down.

Kurosaki Ichigo. _That strange boy, who had no idea about his past. _It is impossible to deny Aizen's own interest given the inherent complexity which made up the boy. Born from a Shinigami father and a Quincy mother, while gaining Hollow powers from the Hougyouku.

The Substitute Shinigami was – is – fascinating to contemplate. _He is the ideal raw materials, the Diamond in the rough _but in flesh. Aizen did not have enough time to whittle and carve out something from all that metal alloy despite his monitoring of the boy's progress during his various battles with Shinigami captains and Espada alike.

Such a headstrong, impulsive, hot-headed young man with so much_ potential. Aizen could have made much of him _although Urahara Kisuke and Hirako Shinji were more determinative influences _unfortunately, annoyingly. _

The Hougyouku unleashed a darkness within the boy _like an entrapped spider within amber _which would have been a truly _delicious_ sight to see when unchecked in all its fury and power.

It was a shock to discover the boy's evolution to a point which enabled him to beat Aizen. Yes, the former ruler and Lord of Hueco Mundo and Las Noches sits bound to his prison beneath the First Division pondering this intriguing development. Granted, the Substitute may have beated him _but Aizen has dragged him under as well with him. _Kurosaki Ichigo will lose his Shinigami powers.

That in itself is satisfying _not enough, but sufficient to tide over…for now. _

Nevertheless, interesting and obsessive one can get about Kurosaki Ichigo, there was a certain necessity to observe and form the boy. Because of the varieties of compounds within him, not observing him would have been strategically suicidal. But Aizen's _last_ interest had not been the former _ryoka _boy. No, his attention was captivated by a someone almost the complete opposite of the Substitute.

_Inoue Orihime._

It was a pity he only found out about her so late. It was a choice, and a choice undertaken with pleasure, that Aizen focused his attention on the human girl. At the time of Kuchiki Rukia's execution and subsequent rescue, Aizen had barely noticed the healer. _It is really easy for that to occur given Kurosaki Ichigo's boisterous presence._

She is unassuming. In a crowd, one can easily overlook her, dismiss her as unimportant and weak.

_Those premises are false. _

It is difficult to take in initially that the power to trespass into the realm of God _to reject whole-scale events _has been placed in those delicate hands and fragile human shell. But her restoration of Grimmjow's arm in very little time is indicative of the power she wields.

But you are impatient. What stone is she?

He originally thought she is like crystal. She takes in the joys and sorrows of her _nakama _to produce her own joys and sorrows _how a crystal takes in sunlight to create a rainbow, a spectrum of colours and possibilities. _Clear as crystal. Orihime is clear, not in the sense of delineated rights and wrongs _like Tousen or Yamamoto Genryusai_, but in her rather child-like purity and lack of the human fallacy to judge.

This might be due to her humility in her powers _always presuming others to be stronger than her. _Hence, she does not suffer from the crippling misjudgements of Grimmjow and to an extent Ulquiorra, in underestimating her opponents.

Aizen had mistakenly thought she could be controlled like Hinamori. _That was his first mistake with regards to her. _

Ichigo is an active fighter _aiming for only one moment of victory. _Orihime is not. She is a fighter, but passive-aggressive as opposed to explicit power. Like flames, Ichigo can be doused and extinguished, but she is not. She is like embers _more water than fire. _

In terms of raw power and reiatsu, she cannot compare to Ichigo. But her other qualities more than make up for such a minor lack.

An astute mind which notices nuances and can manipulate subtleties; a long-term perspective; and the ability to _pretend_ were the qualities which saved her _which led Aizen to underestimate her. _

Aizen thought he broke her when he used Ulquiorra to bring her back to Las Noches. He did not expect her to come up with a counterplot to reject the Hougyouku from resistance _when he showed it to her_.

Rejection – the process which burned his body to agony when she tried to reject the Hougyouku within his body. It was rejection which tore the Hougyouku from him, rendering him fallible to Ichigo's Mugen Getsuga Tenshou.

That phenomenon of Rejection made her something infinitely more precious. No, Inoue Orihime is not a diamond.

She is the dream of every alchemist – the Philosopher's Stone, the object which can change the most basest of metal into gold.

_Restoring Grimmjow's arm._

_Healing the shinigami en masse in a final surge between both sides in the Winter War. _

_The key to motivating the Substitute to grasp and control more power – a Kingmaker. _

Perhaps Aizen is being too whimsical in his descriptions.

Inoue Orihime is the human personified form of the Hougyouku.

Her final fusion with the Hougyouku to protect the splintering dimensions between Heaven, Hell, and Earth which Ichigo's power broke in his fight against Aizen is a brilliant testament to that theory. And when the battle was over, when she lay dying in the arms of Kuchiki Byakuya, the Hougyouku _chose _to save her.

The Hougyouku _chose _to restore her life, at the cost of its own. _And Aizen remains furious at this point because it means the Hougyouku never fully recognised him as Master then. _

Urahara Kisuke was its Maker, its Creator.

Aizen called himself its Master.

But ultimately the Hougyouku chose Inoue Orihime as its Mistress, or in its own words "its Choice" _to protect and sacrifice for. _

Aizen's defeat was at the hands of a human girl _humiliating, unacceptable. _A worthy opponent.

If Aizen is God, then Orihime is the Anti-God _the only One with the means to stop him. _

They better guard him well because if there is even one loophole for escape, Aizen Sousuke will take it. And when he does…

Inoue Orihime, _beware. _

_I am waiting. _

_I will come for you._

**A/N **For those of you who don't know, King Midas is a fairy tale about a king who, in his greed, strikes a bargain with a fairy to be able to turn everything into gold. When he turns his daughter into gold, his remorse and repentance prompts the fairy to lift the curse/'gift'.

This chapter isn't really AiHime, but if you choose to interpret it that way, go ahead. I have nothing against the pairing, but I do find it unrealistic in the sense that Aizen does not appear to have the ability to love. Real love seems impossible given his priorities to solely better himself, but if he is capable of some form of love, then I suppose it would be the above mentioned obsession and twisted hate-love of a brilliant mad man and leader.

Copyright of Bleach goes to Tite Kubo, not me.


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